Euro 4 Compliant Bikes in South Africa
The basis of this article is my experience with these bikes, and is strictly my opinion only.
Over the past year or so, I have had the opportunity to work on, and tune, various Euro 4 compliant bikes; from model year 2016 and later.
Briefly, Euro 4 is a regulation/legislation that amongst other things, limits the emission of polluting exhaust gasses and noise. Euro 4 also requires ABS braking systems, correct indicator spacing, and that horrible number plate bracket. Other items like exhaust valves, air box flappers, secondary throttle valves, catalytic converters and EVAP systems are also requirements.
With Euro 4 already being enforced, and Euro 5 looming (rumoured to come in 2020), we have seen the death of many bikes. Yamaha’s XJR1300s, the V Max and the really sweet MT-09 have been dropped. Honda’s CBR600RR and ST 1300 have also gone. Kawasaki is dropping quite a few; some of them are GTR1400, ZX636 and Z800 etc. BMW has dropped the entire K range and the G650. I could go on about this, but you can get lots of info on the www.
I want to talk about Euro 4 compliant bikes in South Africa as this is the homologated spec for our country. Euro 4 aims to have cleaner burning internal combustion engines (amongst other safety requirements) in order to protect our planet.
It’s amazing to see what manufacturers have done to make bikes better, lighter, faster, and still able to comply with stricter regulation. Over the last year and half, I have had the opportunity of working on, and tuning, some of these compliant bikes and have learnt bucket loads. But the experience has also raised a few concerns.
You may ask what I’m concerned about. Well, first there are the costs. The actual cost of motorcycles will increase with all the added items needed to comply. Hi-tech catalytic converters, ABS systems, clever ECU’s (Engine Control Unit) to control these, new generation O2 sensors, EVAP systems etc etc. Then there are the costs needed to train mechanics to understand these systems; specialized diagnostic equipment needs to be purchased in order to diagnose and maintain these systems and erase DTC’s (Diagnostic Trouble Codes) and perform certain resets which are needed in maintenance.
What concerns me the mostly is the quality of fuel that these bikes have to run on in South Africa. Compared to the rest of the world, South Africa is 15 years behind in terms of fuel quality and standards. These bikes have being designed to run on the finest Euro 4 specified propellant, and not the 15 year old technology pan spray that we get from our fuel pumps.
I have found a whole host of problems our fuel is creating in these new technology engines, exhaust systems and fuel systems. Let’s start with the fuel systems. The coating inside the fuel tanks is not good enough for the harsh and abrasive fuels that we have, and I have found very light surface rust in 2 year old, steel tanked bikes. This creates a problem with fuel filters blocking up and fuel pumps deteriorating prematurely, which if undiagnosed will result in engine failure.
Secondly, the exhaust systems. All exhausts are fitted with catalytic converters and I have seen a progression in this technology as newer models hit our shores. In 2004 removing a catalytic converter on a Fireblade would get you as much as 6 horsepower, versus no horsepower gains on a 2010 Fireblade. Cats have become more compact and more efficient when using a good quality fuel. Use a bad fuel, and the cat will become blocked over a surprisingly short period of time. The danger of this happening is that the hot spent gases are trapped inside the combustion chamber causing damage over a period of time.
Since the introduction of Euro 3 back in 2005, I have seen valve material and valve coatings being introduced to handle higher combustion chamber temperatures, and to improve valve wear and performance. Having a blocked or partially restricted cat adds to wear on parts like valves, pistons etc. due to heat build up. Staying with exhaust systems, O2 sensors have renewed significance for Euro 4 as measurement of the oxygen content of exhaust gasses is integral to efficient fuelling. O2 sensors are pretty simple in their operation, depending on the oxygen concentration they generate a voltage within a range of 200mV to 800mV, 200mV being lean and 800mV being rich. 450mV is the “optimum” signal which is when the air/fuel ratio is STOICHIOMETRIC (14.7 parts of air to one part of fuel). Stoichiometric is that ratio of air to fuel that produces a chemically complete combustion event.
Quite often I have seen O2 sensor failure which causes a lot of problems and it’s worthwhile noting that O2 sensors should be maintenance free. According to the manufacturers, they should last for at least 200 000 kms. But that is when they are used with good quality fuel. When the sensor deteriorates, the bike becomes heavier on fuel and, if undiagnosed, becomes worse over time. A failing O2 sensor will send a lower output voltage to the ECU and the ECU will see this lower voltage as a leaner mixture. In an attempt to correct this, it will then increase fuel from the injectors, making the mixture richer. As the sensor continues to deteriorate, more and more fuel is supplied by the ECU. Eventually both O2 sensor and spark plugs are fouled, and then the most common thing done is to replace the plugs. More often than not, the sensor is ignored. Now it becomes really bad. Because there is such a lot of unburnt fuel, there is standoff back into the air box; this excess fuel then ends up turning to a pasty, varnish like substance in the throttle bodies and vacuum lines. This pasty residue ends up in the vacuum line to the MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor, and in the sensor itself. Now the ECU reads the camshaft position via the MAP sensor incorrectly (in very small amounts, just a few degrees) and then fuel is injected at a slightly different timing than it should be. As you can imagine the problem just gets worse.
So why does the O2 sensor fail? There a few things that will cause damage to a sensor; coolant, silicone, benzene and sulphur to name a few. Here is where we come back to our fuel, because South African refineries are still at Euro 2 specification (15years behind). The refining process is not able to completely rid our fuel of sulphur, benzene and other undesirables. Sulphur is to an O2 sensor as Kryptonite is to Superman and should be outlawed in our fuel, but that is sadly not up to us but to government regulation.
I can well imagine how engineers have had to come up with new ideas to make bikes more powerful, faster, lighter, more reliable, and still conform to Euro 4. In 2013 BMW released their liquid cooled GS, no longer was oil going to adequately keep this leaner fuelled engine cool. It had to be done, and for 2019 we will see it go from a 1200 to a 1250. In 2015 Ducati released their DVT (Ducati Variable Timing) engine in the Multistrada, also in anticipation of stricter emission laws. This year its engine capacity is going from 1200 to 1260. Suzuki launched their GSXR1000 this year, with centrifugal variable valve timing. Compression on this model has gone up to 13.2:1, over last year’s 12.9:1. I can’t help but think this has all got to do with emission laws. Bigger engine capacity with lower compression in some, and higher compression in others. I’m still confused about that. I think in the future we may see the death of the litre bike, it will probably be replaced by smaller capacity, super charged and turbo charged models.
All this technology is great and gives me a warm fuzzy feeling until I see what damage is being done to these fine machines when they ingest our dirty, poor quality fuel. Closed loop parameters are no longer in a small, light load area. For example, on a 2010 Fireblade the closed loop area is between 0% and 20% throttle position, and between 0 and 5500 RPM. Within this “closed loop area” AFRs are kept close to the stoichiometric 14.7. On a 2016 ZX10R the closed loop area is now much larger, stretching into high load areas. This new closed loop area is now between 0% and 100% throttle position, and between 0 and 8250 RPM. Think about how the engine is reacting to this leaner scenario, also consider that this is all designed around premium quality fuel, now think about the same scenario on South Africa’s finest and you will soon realise that you need to do something to make this situation safer.
What to do? Quite honestly in South Africa not much. You could fit a tuning module to enrich the AFR to the correct levels that work with our fuel, or you could flash tune via the ECU. Both options are pretty expensive and add to the cost of an already pricey bike. Also, various distributors frown on the aforementioned and warn that you will lose your warranty. In my opinion, every vehicle using our fuel should be adapted for the low quality fuel, whether it be bike, boat, car, bus or tractor.
Hopefully what you have read has been helpful, and gives you a better idea of what goes into your prized possession.
Julian Neethling
